Spring Break - St. George or BUST!!!

For Spring Break this year, we went to St. George. We stayed in my Aunt Nan's house - Thanks!!! The kids had a ball, but it was the looonngggeest ride ever in the whole wide world!! I think Mya started with "When are we going to be there?" as soon as we backed out of the driveway! There is just something about pulling into St. George - the red rock, the warm air - I don't know how to explain it, it's just different and always has been for me.

Here are the kids swimming. This was the activity they couldn't wait for. They had their swimsuits on and towels ready before we had even gotten out of the car! What fun!

Caleb catching some rays - soaking up the sun!!!

Happy Easter!!

Easter - the first holiday of Spring. I always feel that spring is here once the Easter bunny has come and the annual Easter egg hunt and cook out is over. Since Grandpa Darley has died, mom has taken over the Easter egg hunt and weinee roast. What a great tradition. I have great memories of this growing up and now my kids are creating these same memories. The kids wait with anticipation as Grandpa Leishman loads the gun and gets ready to start the hunt. Once the gun goes off, it is mayhem!!!

Stockton finally figured out what was going on and started filling his basket rather than eat while he hunted. The older kids were really good about making sure all the little ones had treats in their baskets.

Charly and Stockton enjoying their bounty!

Nothing says Easter like baby goats! Carrie has added two new babies, raising her tally to 6 goats in all!!! So cute!!!

My Climber - Stockton

I have been telling stories of Stockton - my climber - and my mom told me I needed to write these down. So here they are for all to read. Caleb and Mya never climbed like Stockton does. He climbs on everything. He even pushes his little Lightening McQueen car around so he has a portable climbing stool. I will find him up in the bathroom sinks, looking out the window and turning lights on and off by standing on his 'portable stool'.
While I was in the shower the other day, Mya came in and asked, "Stockton was running with scissors and fell, is he going to die?" I asked if he was bleeding, no was the answer, so I told her he was not going to die. I then asked her what scissors he was running with. She told me they were my 'Super Shears' from my knife block. The little stinker had climbed up my drawers, walked around the cupboards, over the sink, over the stove and to the knife block. Retrieved the scissors, walked back around and climbed down then proceeded to sprint. I about died!!!
We colored the obligatory eggs for easter. Mya and I were downstairs getting hair done, etc. When we came upstairs, there was Stockton. He had climbed up the stool and was standing on top of the bar and throwing the colored easter eggs all over the kitchen. Each egg is now cracked without even having to roll them down a hill.
He is also an escape artist. I was hanging clothes up downstairs and could feel a cold draft as I came up the stairs. The door to the garage was open and Stockton was gone! I had my few seconds of panic, but found him in the garage playing basketball.
I just can't quite keep up with him! I feel like I am three steps behind him all day long! I have purchased some door safety locks so he can't escape, but I haven't quite found a solution for the climbing. The knives have been moved to the tallest cupboard possible. Wish me luck! I still have a month until the terrible twos!

Why?

Why is it that when your kids are asleep they look so like the angels they truly are and that is when the tears start falling? I have felt like the meanest mom ever lately! Jenny sent me this little poem today and it is just what I needed!

Mean Moms

Someday when my children are old enough to understand the logic that motivates a parent, I will tell them, as my Mean Mom told me: I loved you enough to ask where you were going,with whom, and what time you would be home.

I loved you enough to be silent and let you discover that your new best friend was a creep.

I loved you enough to stand over you for two hours while you cleaned your room, a job that should have taken 15 minutes.

I loved you enough to let you see anger, disappointment, and tears in my eyes. Children must learn that their parents aren't perfect.

I loved you enough to let you assume the responsibility for your actions even when the penalties were so harsh they almost broke my heart.

But most of all, I loved you enough to say NO when I knew you would hate me for it.

Those were the most difficult battles of all... I'm glad I won them, because in the end you won, too. And someday when your children are old enough to understand the logic that motivates parents, you will tell them.

Was your Mom mean?

I know mine was. We had the meanest mother in the whole world! While other kids ate candy for breakfast, we had to have cereal, eggs, and toast.

When others had a Pepsi and a Twinkie for lunch, we had to eat sandwiches.

And you can guess our mother fixed us a dinner that was different from what other kids had, too.

Mother insisted on knowing where we were at all times. You'd think we were convicts in a prison.

She had to know who our friends were and what we were doing with them. She insisted that if we said we would be gone for an hour, we would be gone for an hour or less.

We were ashamed to admit it, but she had the nerve to break the Child Labor Laws by making us work.
We had to wash the dishes, make the beds, learn to cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry, empty the trash and all sorts of cruel jobs. I think she would lie awake at night thinking of more things for us to do.

She always insisted on us telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

By the time we were teenagers, she could read our minds and had eyes in the back of her head. Then, life was really tough!

Mother wouldn't let our friends just honk the horn when they drove up. They had to come up to the door so she could meet them.

Because of our mother we missed out on lots of things other kids experienced.

None of us have ever been caught shoplifting, vandalizing other's property or ever arrested for any crime. It was all her fault.

Now that we have left home, we are all educated, honest adults. We are doing our best to be mean parents just like Mom was. I think that is what's wrong with the world today. It just doesn't have enough mean moms!

Wallpaper Fun!!

So, I needed a change and thought, "Why paint? Let's wallpaper!!" The idea sounded great and easy and when I got my wallpaper, I was ready to wallpaper the entire house, but now that the project is over, we will wait a little while. You would think that after all the years that wallpaper has been around, some one would have found an easier way to do this that didn't include frustration and language that children shouldn't hear!!!

This is Carrie helping me out. She was the photographer and recorded this lovely memory.

Presli Jo was worn out by the whole process. She decided to give up and just go to sleep so she didn't have to watch.

Almost done and I ran out of wallpaper. Had to wait a week to get some more.

Ta Da!!! The finished project! I absolutely love it and hanging wallpaper isn't all that bad??????